Man Stands Alone
by Soul Reaver
Summary: Ivy helps a close friend, Tara, understand the grief of a social outcast...Rated PG-13 for harsh language and description of violence
1. Of Angst and Man

Of Angst and Men  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the WOECIS characters in this fanfic.  
  
~ ~ ~  
  
The room was destroyed. Everything was smashed, strewn about the room in a tribute to disorder and rage. The mirror was shattered by a hard backed dictionary flung into the wall. Glass, shattered porcelain were everywhere. The entire room was a tribute to the owner's rage.  
  
His ACME ID card was cut apart and written on the wall in blue ink was, "To Hell with ACME!"  
  
Clearly the owner's last few moments were racked with pain and rage. "How could he do this?"  
  
The question snapped Ivy out of her surprise. One of her closest friends from the ACME Queensland Field Office in Australia, Tara, had called her a few minutes ago. For someone normally calm and level headed she seemed extremely distraught at the sight she had seen.  
  
"I don't know Tara, but maybe we can piece together what went wrong." Ivy said. She paused as two ACME detectives walked by, they were seventeen at the oldest.  
  
"Man did you hear that dude, Purvis, quit today?" said one.  
  
"Yeah, I saw him storm out of the building. He was like totally spazing out. I heard him yelling, 'Almighty God! Enough! Enough!' all last night." The other replied.  
  
"He was such a fucking dweeb man. With that gay ass laugh and how he tried to fit in." the first replied.  
  
Tara looked clearly upset by both the comments of the room's former occupant as well as the destroyed state of the room. A large hole was kicked into the dry wall and his clothes and mattress were thrown angrily around the room.  
  
Ivy picked up the fragments of the ID card. It bore the name Purvis, Larry M., age: seventeen. Most of the rest of the card's pieces were scattered about the room. A small portrait of a slight, bespectacled fellow with a grown in shaved head was part of the three fragments Ivy had pieced together.  
  
Tara gingerly stepped aside, to avoid stepping on a shard of glass from the bathroom mirror. Ivy decided to question Tara about what she knew about Purvis, "What was wrong with him?"  
  
"He was always complaining about how underappreciated or denigrated he was because he wasn't a field agent. Just because he was part of the evidence interpretation group the field agents used to give him a hard time but he always seemed to laugh with them. That was until at least a few days ago." Tara replied, brushing a stray lock of her short brown hair out of her face.  
  
Ivy walked around a drawer that had been pulled out of the bureau and smashed against the tile floor of the bathroom. Several shirts and socks were strewn about as a result. It looked like the aftermath of a war zone.  
  
Among the debris Ivy found a smashed framed picture. There were three people in the picture, one of them was Tara, the other was the room's former occupant, Larry Purvis, and the third was Duncan Glazers, another detective at the field office. Most of the picture was partially burned with a lighter.  
  
Ivy's instincts told her that there was something significant about this picture, otherwise why would Purvis have taken such elaborate steps to destroy it. "How long did you say you knew him?"  
  
"I've known Larry since he moved into my neighborhood in Sapphire Bay when he was six. We've been friends since then and I know him like the back of my hand. I didn't think he was capable of this." Tara replied.  
  
"What sort of person was he? Who did he hang out with?" Ivy replied as she walked to the book case. The shelves were all knocked down, and several books ranging from Shakespeare to several cheap paperbacks were scattered about.  
  
"He was a quiet guy, a deep thinker. I also thought he was the sweetest guy I knew; I mean he was always happy, always good to me. He didn't go out much; he'd just sit in here reading or writing something. He seemed happy with his job, but lately he had been making mistakes, allowing VILE henchmen to steal things from museums from Japan to Indonesia. Chief Inspector Bryce wasn't too happy with him. She put him under a professional competence investigation last week." Tara replied, "And after that he started to become bitter and angry towards ACME and this place."  
  
"Was he upset when he was doing his job, even when he was making mistakes?" Ivy asked.  
  
"It was around last month when the jokes stopped being funny, when his supervisor started getting on his case, when his fellow interpreters started getting on his case." Tara replied, "He stopped smiling so much, started becoming more withdrawn than usual. Even when he would want to be left alone, he'd always be willing to talk to me, but then he even started shutting me out."  
  
"What about that third guy in the picture, Duncan." Ivy asked, she knew Duncan from a couple ACME mixtures. "He's my boyfriend, I started dating him around last month." Tara replied, "We had our first kiss last night."  
  
Ivy scratched her chin thoughtfully, she knew what had been on Purvis' mind when he trashed his room and cut his ID card apart. It was starting to make sense. Purvis was falling in love with his childhood friend who didn't share his feelings.  
  
"Ivy?" Tara asked, "There's one more thing. I know that some of those other field agents making jokes about geeky interpreters are common but Larry was genuinely hurt by them. I remember him being on the verge of tears last week at being called, 'Just a mama's boy interpreter dweeb' by Detective Mullins."  
  
"What was his home life like?" Ivy asked.  
  
"He was very close to his family. He spent hours on the phone with them every day." Tara replied.  
  
Ivy pieced together more information. Larry Purvis, a broken hearted loner, a kid that was constantly teased by the common travails of the teenage life. Tara and Duncan started dating at around the time that Purvis started destabilizing emotionally. She could see it now, Purvis hearing about their first kiss and knowing that he had permanently lost and feeling completely devastated. If the words of the two ACME detectives that had walked by meant anything he was obviously angst ridden and enraged.  
  
Tara's next question posed a dilemma for Ivy, "Why did he do this? I can't figure out why? I could see him probably leaving but not with this kind of violence."  
  
The room seemed to scream, "I've got nowhere left to go!"  
  
Ivy noticed the ripped pillow case had several tear stains on it. The grief was obviously long lived and caused the occupant a lot of pain.  
  
Ivy debated whether to tell Tara the truth that was so plainly written, that Purvis was in love with her, couldn't express his feelings soon enough, and grief stricken, chose to flee ACME in an unconventional way. "Give me some time Tara, you know I'm always there for you." Ivy said as she walked through the C-5 corridor back to ACME HQ, San Francisco. 


	2. Boy Soldier

Boy Soldier  
  
Disclaimer: Only Tara and Purvis are my creations, all WOEICS characters belong to DIC. This story runs in the same timeline as my story Guns of October.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
May 2139: Private Larry Purvis, United Systems Army, 112th Light Infantry Division squinted as the fierce Mediterranean sun beat down upon him. It had been nearly four months since he violently left the Queensland Field Office.  
  
He had sent his parents a letter a few months before joining the Army, saying that his life at ACME had become unbearable and that fleeing was the only alternative. They had talked him out of joining the Colonial Legion, a force that was currently fighting it out against the victims of an unusual virus that mutated its victims into mindless flesh eaters. They agreed to a compromise, joining the Army.  
  
He sent Tara a letter a week into Basic training telling her the half truth that a pervasive and growing sense of isolation had forced him so violently away from ACME. That was only half of the truth concerning his flight into the Army.  
  
He had known Tara since he was six, since his father had moved the family to Sapphire Bay, Australia. He still looked fondly on that day when he moved in for the first time. Tara had just stopped by their house, introduced herself, and then proceeded to introduce her family to their new neighbors. As they grew up together Purvis began to increasingly treasure the time spent with his childhood friend. When he hit puberty he began seeing Tara in a different light.  
  
Purvis would always regard May 6, 2137, the year after he made it into ACME, as the day where he realized his true feelings for Tara. The fierce Mediterranean sun beating down on the lonely sentry brought back memories from the past of the boy soldier.  
  
It was a partially cloudy day, with the sun poking teasingly through the clouds like a child playing peek-a-boo. He knew for certain that the way he felt about Tara when he awakened was not the same way he felt that night upon the 6th of May. He remembered waking up in his dorm, walking into the cafeteria and sitting over his morning coffee cup pondering thoughts long forgotten. It was then that she walked in, her short brown hair framing her intelligent oval face. He could see her lean frame walking towards his table and he admired her graceful beauty as she took her seat across from him. A few hours later, sitting at his computer, it hit him. He realized for the first time he was attracted to Tara, not merely on a physical level, but also to her warm and caring personality.  
  
It wasn't as if his life was lacking affection at home. Nothing could be further from the truth, as he genuinely loved and adored his family as only a true and loyal son can. His father and mother cared for, nurtured, and supported their progeny very well. No, it was because he was so awkward around his peers, often categorized as a nerd by most of them. He tried to hide the pain of that isolation from his peers, but it left its marks in how slowly he made friends, how slow he was to trust people and his general shyness around people.  
  
Tara was always there for him since first grade, a longtime childhood friend that made sure that he never would eat lunch alone. He suspected he always had a mild crush on her ever since he hit puberty but the true extent of his feelings he didn't figure out until May 6, 2137. Since that day, his life at ACME started to go to hell. Ironically this tragic 6th of May was his date of birth. He was sixteen at the time, but then he had always been a precocious child, wise beyond his years but also sensitive and prone to being hurt easily.  
  
He remembered his last six months at ACME in particular. His supervisor, Matt Briggs, saw a lot of potential in Purvis when he first went to work for him. However, as Purvis' on the job performance started to decline and he was no longer able to accurately predict VILE's next move as he had been able to do earlier, Briggs started to come down hard. Eventually his poor performance brought him to the attention of Chief Inspector Bryce and then three months of a professional competence investigation.  
  
As any ACME detective will attest, a professional competence investigation often involves ACME's internal security branch sending an investigator from a different field office to follow the subject and keep an eye on him at work and even when he's not at work depending on the seriousness of the competence problem. In Purvis' case his life was under a microscope for three months straight. Inspector Stuart, a short, mean spirited shrew of a woman shadowed his every waking hour.  
  
Then to add insult to injury his fellow ACME detectives added their own rather sharp tongued remarks. Eventually, embittered, isolated, scorned and broken hearted, Larry Purvis lashed out. He proceeded to trash and destroy his room at ACME, cut apart his ID card, left a resignation letter on Bryce's desk, and headed to the Army recruitment station across town.  
  
He was quickly sent to Basic Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The first three weeks were arduous, as Purvis wasn't used to a lot of physical activity and again he was at the bottom of the heap as well as subject to a lot of verbal abuse from his drill sergeants. Somehow, after week three, the runs started getting easier, he could execute a lot more pushups and pull-ups, assembling and disassembling his rifle was no longer a major difficulty, and the Drill Sergeants became less frightening.  
  
After he graduated Basic Training, he was soon sent off to the 112th Light Infantry Division based in Corinth, Greece. That had been the events of the last few months. He was sent with his battalion on a deployment to Gibraltar for six months less than four days after he had arrived.  
  
That was how he got to where he now stood, at a sentry post overlooking the rugged peaks of the Pillars of Gibraltar one day before the 6th of May. He saw a figure approaching the fence line coming from the hills. "Halt!" he shouted.  
  
"It's alright, mate." Said the figure, and approached into the sunlight from the shade of a copse of trees, "I was just going on a little hike."  
  
The soldier wore a woodland patterned DPM (Disruptive Pattern Material) field jacket over his olive drab fatigues and a green beret. The beret was obviously well worn and saw quite a bit of use with a cap badge that consisted of a dagger with crossed arrows and a scroll bearing a Latin motto: De Oppresso Liber. His boots were a dusty shade of brown instead of black, evidence that he had been trekking through the Rock's countryside. His fatigues and DPM smock were equally dusty from his long trek, and his complexion was ruddy and flush. He was a curly haired fellow with a mustache and a five o'clock shadow. He carried a paratrooper's carbine with a folding stock with a desert brown finish, well worn and used web gear, and a rucksack that had seen just as much use.  
  
The newcomer was a stark contrast to Purvis, who wore starched olive drab fatigues, well polished boots, and wore a rather weighty Kevlar helmet atop his head and carried his rifle with its standard gray finish and web gear with spare magazines, a canteen and bayonet, all of it freshly issued kit that was expected to look impeccable at all times.  
  
"You're the first bloke that's seen me before I've seen him." The newcomer continued, "That's rare. I'm Sergeant Breck, No. 5 Commando."  
  
"Private Purvis, 112th Light Infantry Division." Purvis replied.  
  
"We get a lot of our good blokes from the Light Divisions. Have you ever heard of us?" Breck replied.  
  
"Actually I have, Sergeant." Purvis replied, "The Special Forces Regiment, but I also heard a majority of them come from the Airborne."  
  
"That's partially true, but the Regiment gets recruits from almost everywhere." Breck replied, "Where are you from, lad?"  
  
The man had a slight Scottish accent, "I'm from Sapphire Bay, Australia." Purvis replied.  
  
"I served with a couple Aussies from the 144th Australian Infantry Regiment that transferred into the Regiment." Breck replied, "You seem to be a keen, bright lad, and the mind numbing Army routine tends to drive a lot of that sort bonkers. If you'd like a different pace of life, remember the Regiment."  
  
"I shall, Sergeant." Purvis replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Ivy!" Zack hollered from downstairs, waking up the entire house as he did so, "It's Tara for you."  
  
Ivy ran downstairs, barefooted and wearing only a tank top and jogging pants. She stared at Zack with a look that spoke of death and daggers as well as a pair of sunken eyes. Clearly Ivy pulled another all-nighter.  
  
"Hey Tara." Ivy said, brightening somewhat, "Sorry, you kinda caught me after I just woke up."  
  
"Oh I'm sorry." Came the voice of the Australian sleuth over the phone, "I could always call back later."  
  
"No, it's alright, what's up?" Ivy replied.  
  
"Have you been watching the news lately?" Tara replied.  
  
"Yeah, what about it?" Ivy asked.  
  
"I'm worried about Larry." Tara replied, "You know that Biohazard virus that's been ravaging the outer colonies. Do you think they'll send Larry?"  
  
"I don't know." Ivy replied.  
  
"He wrote me a letter last week. He said that he wasn't going, but the unit's been training to deploy in case it has to." Tara replied.  
  
Ivy knew that it was best to let Tara continue to speak. Ivy had been debating for months about whether to tell Tara that Purvis left because of her. 'Should I just tell Tara and break her heart or not tell her and let her wonder.'  
  
"Larry's practically still a kid, it's just not fair that they could send to war." Tara replied.  
  
"Wait a minute. Larry's old enough to make decisions like that for himself." Ivy replied  
  
Ivy could almost visibly see Tara's shoulders slump, "I know, but I wish I knew why he left ACME just to join the army."  
  
Ivy bit her lip as Tara continued on, "I just saw about three trucks full of soldiers drive by my house."  
  
"Everyone's nervous Tara," Ivy replied, "We just had a bunch of jeeps come by the house last week."  
  
"I hope that the high alert ends soon." Tara replied, "It's really worrying people, especially me."  
  
Ivy did not want to mention that when she had been in France the other day, trying to track Carmen down, she had made a wrong turn down a street and wound up driving by Aubagne, the main base of the Colonial Legion. She saw a detail unloading what had to be dozens of body bags from the back of a cargo shuttle. What had to be a funeral march was playing in the background over a loudspeaker. She didn't want to make Tara more worried than she already was.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Larry Purvis humped a heavy 100 pound rucksack up yet another hill side. He wasn't alone. A battalion of troops from the 112th Light Infantry went on a night march for training.  
  
The weight of all his gear made him feel more like a pack mule than a soldier. A fine gift for one's eighteenth birthday, marching through the Gibraltar countryside. This march was to last four days. Four days of sleeping in foxholes with his boots on and rifle at hand. Four days of cold field rations, as campfires were prohibited.  
  
As he finished digging his foxhole and placing a crude tarp cover over the hole he fell into an exhausted sleep. Boy soldier spurned by love, so far from home, yet longing to return. 


	3. War Clouds

War Clouds  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own the Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego franchise. Again only Purvis and Tara are my creations.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
June 2139: Tara looked from her issue of Sports Illustrated when she heard footsteps walking outside of the Detective's Ready Room. She saw at least half a dozen military officers lead by a short, squat man of Filipino origins. His aide, a slim, boyish Australian captain said, "Excuse us, detective, could you show us to Chief Inspector Bryce's office."  
  
Tara put her magazine away and said, "Yes sir."  
  
Struggling to keep her nervousness in, Tara walked astride of the major and his aide, escorted by two grim faced military policemen with holstered pistols. "Chief Inspector Bryce?" Tara said, knocking on the door.  
  
"Yes." Bryce replied, looking up. Bryce was a cool, unflappable woman in her mid thirties, the daughter of an Indian doctor and a British police officer, very little surprised her.  
  
The sight that greeted her when Tara opened the door was one such surprise, "Chief Inspector Bryce, I'm Major Palomar, Office of Strategic Services. As the head of this field office you know what I am about to say should not leave this room."  
  
The major made a dismissing gesture with his right hand and the Australian aide and two MPs left the room, practically half dragging a stunned and surprised Tara out of the door jamb. The door closed with a loud thud as the MPs stationed themselves outside of Chief Inspector Bryce's office and stood at parade rest.  
  
"What's this about Major?" Bryce replied regaining her usual composure.  
  
"You are aware of the ACME/OSS Reservation Act, correct?" Palomar replied.  
  
"Yes, I am. It's an act where in times of war or national emergency ACME's resources are to be used to aid the OSS." Bryce replied.  
  
"As you are aware, storm clouds are gathering on the horizon. The Biohazard is consuming the colonies and the Colonial Legion isn't going to be able to hold off this attack. That's a fact, they are being decimated and we estimate that Earth will be hit no later than 2140. Already we are beginning a massive mobilization and are prepared for the virus to make its landfall. But we need to supplement our intelligence gathering capabilities and that's where you come in." Palomar replied.  
  
"Major, as you are aware, my detectives have self defense training, but in no way are they secret agents." Bryce replied, "What you're proposing is that I send my detectives to their deaths."  
  
"Inspector Bryce that is why I and this man are here." Palomar indicated a rock solid looking man with chiseled features in olive drab fatigues, "This is Sergeant Major Reynard, he's here to help train your best field agents in the arts of infiltration, sabotage, and intelligence gathering. By no means do I intend to make commandoes out of your detectives, I'm planning to teach them the skills they need to survive in ACME's wartime role, when it arises."  
  
"When do you intend to start?" Bryce said.  
  
"I plan to start tomorrow morning at 0530 sharp." Sergeant Major Reynard said crisply, speaking for the first time after coming to attention.  
  
"Very well. As of now you will retain command of your detectives, but overall command will be retained by the Office of Strategic Services." Palomar replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Elsewhere Tara walked through the dorm towards her own room which was down the hall from where Purvis used to live. The room was finally empty of all of Purvis' personal effects and much of the broken furniture had been replaced. She stood in the doorway arch, and in her mind's eye she could still see Larry Purvis tucked solidly away in a good book, his wire framed glasses set on the tip of his nose, his narrow face a mask of concentration. She could also see his boyish grin, something that was rarely seen in his last few months at ACME, whenever he was happy.  
  
"Tara?" said a familiar voice behind her.  
  
Tara was so lost in the reverie that she didn't even see Duncan come in behind her. "Oh, I'm sorry Duncan, I didn't hear you come in."  
  
She leaned easily into his arms, "Have you heard from Larry lately?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Last week, he said he was going on another field exercise on Gibraltar. He should be back on base this afternoon." Tara replied.  
  
"It's not easy knowing someone you care about is going into harm's way." Duncan replied.  
  
"You still miss him, don't you?" Duncan asked, when Tara didn't say anything for a while.  
  
"I wish he told me what was wrong. I wish he just let me in, let me know what was bothering him so I could help him." Tara replied, she seemed visibly upset by all of this.  
  
"It's not up to Tara Howard to save every mixed up kid on this planet." Duncan replied.  
  
"Duncan!" Tara said, wiggling out of Duncan's embrace, "He's not a mixed up kid, he's my best friend, I wish you'd stop treating him like a kid."  
  
"Follow your own advice Tara." Duncan replied, "Just last week you said, 'Larry's practically still a kid. Why is he doing this?' Now who's treating him like a kid?"  
  
"Duncan, I didn't mean it like that, I meant to say something else." Tara replied before Duncan cut her off.  
  
"I know, he seemed so helpless and you felt you had to take care of him, but keep in mind, Larry's old enough to make decisions by himself. So he obviously felt that this was the only course of action available to him and he took it." Duncan replied.  
  
"It's really starting to creep me out." Tara replied, "First these OSS guys come into the building, then I start seeing these MP's start moving in, replacing our uniformed guys. What are they gonna do next? Clean out the old bomb shelter in the basement?"  
  
"Tara, this may not be the best time to tell you this, but I'm gonna tell you anyway." Duncan said.  
  
Tara looked into Duncan's ice blue eyes set into his sun tanned face, as he spoke, "I just volunteered to go into the Marine Corps this morning, hon."  
  
"Why?" Tara asked.  
  
"Tara, listen to me, I've been hearing all this talk about the Foe making its landing here on Earth. I have to do my part in this effort and the Marines are the best way to go about it." Duncan replied.  
  
Tara didn't reply at all, she just held on to Duncan as long as she could, for all she knew she might never see him again.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"C'mon Purvis, get the lead out!" the broad shouldered Comanche, Private Phillip Twofeathers shouted. He was taller than Purvis' 5'8", about six feet tall and built like a cigar store Indian, only he was the genuine article.  
  
With a grunted reply Purvis pumped his legs as fast as he could. Both men wore their dirt brown t-shirts and olive drab fatigue trousers and boots. The men also carried 150-lb field packs on their backs as they ran a particularly tough course with a lot of rising hills and steep slopes on the island of Gibraltar.  
  
"Damn, we made it five miles in forty minutes, not bad." Twofeathers replied as he looked at his watch, "Down five minutes from last week."  
  
"Yeah, but the Special Forces standard is running five miles with full rucksack in under fifty minutes." Purvis replied, gulping a deep breath of air and straining against the weight of the rucksack.  
  
"Yeah not to mention land navigation's gonna be pretty tough." Twofeathers replied, "My people have knack for it, though."  
  
"When do you plan to apply for Selection?" Purvis asked, referring to the Special Forces Selection Course, a very arduous physical and mental training program that approximately three-fourths of the men who tried out for it failed on the first attempt.  
  
"Next spring selection." Twofeathers replied, "How about you?"  
  
"Whenever they let me take it, I suppose." Purvis replied.  
  
Clouds began moving across the skies and Phillip Twofeathers replied with unconcerned casualness, "Looks like a storm's coming along I reckon."  
  
"Yeah, looks like it." Purvis replied. He had been on enough marches through the countryside to know that storms, while unpleasant, were not the end of the world.  
  
"I remember some guy next to me on that hump we did last week groaning, 'If this is what light infantry is like, I wonder what heavy infantry is like.' Of course if we make it into the Regiment we'll be humping with loads in excess of two hundred pounds." The broad shouldered Comanche tribesman grinned as he peered at the compass he had sewn into an ornate leather wristband with tribal markings Purvis could only guess the significance of, "Camp's about five miles west, I'll race you back after about fifteen minutes."  
  
"Gotcha pal." Purvis replied, "You're on."  
  
"I better see your pale face back there first." Phil Twofeathers grinned.  
  
"More like I'll continually stare at your red backside like last week when I try to run back to base." Purvis replied.  
  
"Ah, you're improving. Put it this way pal, you're in a hell of a lot better shape now than you were when you enlisted five months ago, right?"  
  
"Yeah." Purvis replied. "So just keep on improving and you should be good to go." Twofeathers replied, "Anyway, we're young, in prime physical condition, and when we're sixty we'll have something to brag about at the VFW bars for the rest of our lives. 'I made it through Selection into the cream of the crop of the United Systems Army', not something a lot of guys can say."  
  
Purvis grinned, despite himself, "Yeah, I can just see it, most of my friends at ACME won't recognize me now."  
  
"Any friend in particular." The big Indian grinned mischievously.  
  
"Well there's one." Purvis said shyly.  
  
"Do tell." Twofeathers replied.  
  
"She's been a good friend of mine since I was six years old." Purvis replied, "I always keep a picture of her in my pocket, I've been doing that since I enlisted in the Army. Her name's Tara. I've liked her since I was sixteen, almost for two years now."  
  
"So are you still with her?" Twofeathers asked.  
  
"I never was romantically involved with her, I never even told her how I felt. I just couldn't find enough courage to do it. Besides there are a heck of a lot more better looking guys out there than me." Purvis replied.  
  
"All you need is confidence my friend." Phil Twofeathers replied, "Speaking of which, fifteen minutes are up. Ready to go?"  
  
"Gotcha." Purvis replied and the pair took off running the five miles back to the base camp. 


End file.
